Stephanie Padilla’s 4th grade reading class, held via Zoom, elicited lots of smiles as students showed off the book they are enjoying together.
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A Different Summer Experience at St. James
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For the month of July, we are implementing our plan for a SLOW, STEADY, and SAFE return of students and staff to the St. James School campus. The first week of summer program was virtual. The other three weeks will be a mix of online learning and in-person instruction, each morning of classes ending with a take-home lunch.
Students on campus are following our new "community wellness agreement," starting each day with a health screening led by nurse practitioner Dale Ayton. All are wearing face masks and social distancing at least 6 feet apart. Our summer session is allowing us to have a test run of the "new rules," which will make us better prepared for a successful return in September.
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On tap this summer at St. James:
- a novel reading program
- math courses
- virtual science experiments
- scientific research and writing
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In previous years, our summer STEAM Academy found science teacher Nick Gurol getting students involved in fun, explosive, messy experiments. To accommodate the social distancing that is necessary this summer, Mr. Gurol is teaching through YouTube videos he's producing at home and school. Students will be observing things such as fossils, data charts, dry ice explosions, and kitchen experiments while they explore the scientific thought process called “Claim, Evidence, Reasoning.”
“I am excited to help the kids develop their scientific reasoning skills in a new way this summer, while trying to avoid blowing up my kitchen during all the experiments I’ll be demonstrating!” says Mr. Gurol.
Whether it's reading fun books or watching exciting virtual science demos, summer is off to a great start for our students — but we still need your help!
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Servant Year Members Angel Nalubega and Madeleine Harris, 2015 St. James graduate John Taylor and Father Andrew Kellner display some of the food available at the Welcome Table.
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The Welcome Table: Building Community and a Culture of Sharing
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Soon after taking over what was once a garage last school year, the Welcome Table became known as a welcoming space for St. James families and neighbors. It provides food and clothing while emphasizing dignity and relationships, and working to squash the stigma that can come with asking for help.
Over the past four months of the pandemic, and thanks to our many generous supporters, the Welcome Table has grown exponentially, the tent has moved from the front of the school to the corner of West Lippincott Street (our new location)
, serving hundreds more people, and becoming a community hub.
Our Welcome Table director, The Rev. Andrew Kellner, and the Welcome Table’s devoted staff and volunteers, are not slowing down over the summer. Father Kellner reports that 120 - 150 households typically visit each day the Welcome Table operates. The Welcome Table team also makes 30 socially-distanced home visits each week to deliver food to those who are unable to safely pick up the food themselves.
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A large and colorful tent is the new home of the Welcome Table.
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But the Welcome Table is about much more than food. It’s about building community and providing opportunities for neighbors to get to know each other through community events. A recent event was organized to support the Black Lives Matter movement. “Our goal is to help people feel less alone,” says Father Kellner.
The Welcome Table is guided by the motto
Take what you need, share what you have. “It’s really wonderful to see this culture of sharing come to life here at the Welcome Table,” says Father Kellner. “You know, everyone who visits the Welcome Table pitches in, in some way. Maybe that’s helping us load and unload boxes of food, or donating extra clothing, or giving a few dollars to support our work.”
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That Is Our Back to School Plan
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The question we’re all asking is: Will our school be open come September? The answer is yes, we will be educating our students throughout the coming school year. We are prepared with contingency plans for various "open" scenarios, depending on the situation related to COVID-19 in late August. All of our contingency plans are based on SLOW, STEADY, SAFE. The decision as to which plan we implement will be made in consultation with our staff, board, families, and within city, state, and CDC guidelines. We look forward to sharing more information with you as we get closer to the opening date.
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2015 graduate John Taylor is an intern for the Welcome Table.
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John helped with building a new greenhouse for the campus.
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John Taylor (Class of 2015) followed an unconventional path to completing high school. He started at Boy’s Latin. When he was 16, a friend was shot and killed, and John transferred to an alternative school. There he realized that with his ADD, he needed more structure. Eventually, he found his way to Keystone Job Corps, where he not only got his diploma earlier this year, but also his trade certificate. He’s working on his license. Despite the extra time he needed, St. James helped along the way and has “always been by my side,” John says. Below he shares what he’s up to this summer (as a paid intern for the Welcome Table) and his plans for the future (he’s seeing stars).
I’m on campus helping this summer. At the Welcome Table, we’re doing a lot of lifting boxes and giving out food. We got some chicken and hamburgers and we bagged them up to give out the next day.
I helped build a greenhouse and I built the bench by the beehives and all the new grey chairs. I also clean up around campus - the dog things, the Church. I water the new trees we just got planted.
Next year I’ll be going to a trade school. My plan after that is to start my own business. Down the road I'd like to possibly go to college. It's been a dream of mine to take up astronomy because I want to work for NASA.
If you ask anybody on this campus, science is my favorite subject. It’s the world around us and how everything is moving. I always was a science kid and paid attention to space because I love space. Ever since I was little my mom’s like, “You won’t get on a plane. But if someone offered to get you on a rocket, you would do that!” I'd say, “Yeah, it’s different.”
St. James is a great place! If I have children, this is the place I’m going to send them, soon as they are old enough.
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One Way You Can Help - Sign Up Today!
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Join a Zoom Info Session to Learn from Staff Members How We're Doing and Learn How the Tax Credit Program is Helping
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Participants will hear from a St. James staff member about the successes and challenges as we continue to navigate COVID-19 impacts during summer, and hear from one of our development professionals about how donor participation in the Pennsylvania tax credit program is helping raise needed funds for St. James School. Plus: A special guest appearance by Tami Clark, Executive Director, Central Pennsylvania Scholarship Fund, who is very knowledgeable about the tax credit program.
The online program will be 30 minutes, but we'll leave plenty of time for Q&A on both topics!
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Monday, July 20th at 12:30 pm
with Nick Gurol,
Science Teacher
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Wednesday, July 22nd at 4:00 pm
With Mandisa John,
Associate Director of Graduate Support
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St. James School is a faith-based Philadelphia middle school in the Episcopal tradition, committed to educating traditionally underresourced students in a nurturing environment. The school is a community that provides a challenging academic program and encourages the development of the moral, spiritual, intellectual, physical and creative gifts in its students.
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